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PROCEKDINGS 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



HON. P. McCAULEY COOK, 

REPRESENTATIVE FROM FULTON COUNTY. 




CI^ARENCK M. BUSCH, 

STATE PRINTER OF PENNSYIyVANIA. 
1897. 



J"^ 



RESOLUTION. 



In the House of Representatives, 

March 25, 1897. 

Resolved (if the Senate concur), That fifteen hundred copies 

of the resolution and memorial services of Hon. P. McCauley 

Cook be printed and bound in cloth for the use of the House. 

Extract from the Journal of the House of Representatives. 

JERE B. REX, 

Chief Clerk. 
The foregoing resolution concurred in. 

E. W. SMILEY, 
Chief Clerk of the Senate. 
Approved— The 31st day of March, 1897. 

DANIEL H. HASTINGS. 




^>»^ 



m^ 



RESOLUTION. 



Mr. LfOng. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolution: 
Whereas-', P. MoCauley Cook, an honored member of the 

House of Representatives of Fulton county, has been suddenly 

taken from his fellow members by death; therefore, 
Resolved, That we express our sincere sorrow" on account of 

his mysterious and sudden removal to that bourne from which 

no traveler returns. 

That we condole with his family in this their hour of trial 
and bereavement. 

That his desk be draped in mourning- for the period of ten 
days.' 

Tha,t a committee of ten members be appointed to attend his 
funeral and the Speaker of the House appoint a suitable time 
for memorial services in memory of our deceased member. 
The question being, 

Will the House agree to the resolution? 

It was agreed to. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



In the House of Representatives, 
Wednesday evening, March 24, 1897. 

The House was called to order at eight thirty 
post meridian, Mr. Lennou in the chair. 

PRAYER. 

The following prayer was offered by Reverend 
Milton H. Sangree, chaplain of the House: 

O God, thou art eternal; we are but of yesterday 
—the grass, the flowers that flourish in the morn- 
ing and are cut down and wither by the evening 
are the emblems of our earthly existence. 

We thauk thee, O our Father, that it is not all 
of life to live, and that death and the grave are 
not the goal of our being. 

We iblQ«is thee for the undying life in Jesus 
Christ, surmounting the "wreck of matter and the 
crush of worlds." 

Give us, our Heavenly Father, here, where the 
shadows are so deep, and where the earth is be- 
ing continually upturned to receive the dust of la 
fellow mortal, the hope, the joy, the triumph of 
immortality in Christ Jesus. 



8 Memorial Services. 



We meet, Our Heavenly Fatlier, to do some 
little meed of honor to the memory of our friend 
and soldier Eepresentative, who sleeps in thy 
Providence his last earthly sleep, awaiting thy 
call at the resurrection morning. 

O Grod — the face — ^the voice of our friend — the 
greetings of thoise few brief days! — the memorials 
of sorrow and honor that marked his vacant. seat 
in the old House — the fresh grave near his child- 
hood's home, thick strewn with flowers — are all 
engraved in imperishable characters upon the tab- 
lets of our memories. 

We thank thee. Our Father, that when he was 
little more than a boy, he offered his young life 
for the coTintry he loved, and we bless thee, too, 
for the manly, patriotic, ministering life of his 
riper years. 

May the consolations of thy grace, thy presence 
and the joy of thy salvation be the portion of the 
widow and the children of our departed friend, 
in all their sorrow and loneliness ; and O God, who 
gave us this fair Columbia, may there never come 
la: time when brave hearts may not be found willing 
and ready to lay down their lives if need be for our 
glorious flag, and for this land, the best of earth, 
twice bought for Liberty with patriotic blood. 

Our Heavenly Fiather, constrain by thy love 
every member of this House and all in its service 
to become, through thy dear Son, members of thy 
household of faith, that when we fail on earth we 
shall be at ho'me with thee forever. 

Oh Jesus Christ, thou "Kindly Light" for man 
— Shepherd, Brother, Friend — lead us each one by 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 9 

the hand until "angel voices" shall greet us and 
earth's sorrows and shadows, fears and uncer- 
tainties, shall have passed away forever in the 
glorious vision of eternity. All, Our Father, we 
offer thee, and aisk of thee in Jesus' name and for 
his sailve. Amen. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 

Mr. W. H. Long. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of 
the committee appointed to prepare a tribute in 
memory of our late colleague, Hon. P. McCauley 
Cook, I beg leave to submit the following : 

To the H'Onoraible, the Members of the House of 
Kepresentatives : 

The undersigned, appointed a loommittee to pre- 
pare a suitable tribute of respect in memory of our 
late colleague, the Honorable P. McCauley Cook, 
as well as give expression to our high regard of his 
many excellent qualities, beg leave to respectfully 
submit the following land recommend its adoption : 

W. H. LONG, 

Chairman, 

WILLIAM H. MILLER, 

CHARLES W. HERMANN, 

JAMES W. CARSON, 

R. R. KAYLER, 

WILLIAM C. SMITH, 

JAMES SGHOFIELD, 

CHARLES B. SPATZ. 

Whereas, The Homse of Representatives of 
Pennsylvania wishes to make record by testi- 



10 Memorial Services. 



monial its high estimate of the character and 
life of the Honorable P. McOauley Oook, repre- 
sentative from the county of Fulton, and lalso de- 
sires to express its sincere sorrow at his> sudden 
and unexpected removal from us by death; there- 
fore, be it 

Eesolved, That this body hereby testify and 
place on record its high appreciaition of his merits 
as a isoldier, a citizen, a member of the House 
of Kepresentatives 'and a true friend. 

P. McOauley Cook was of that type of manhood 
and possessed of those virtues that caused him 
to be held in the highest esteem by his fellow- 
men, and qualified him in an eminent degree to 
perform the duties devolving upon him in every 
relation of life, a man who, by honesty and sin- 
cerity of purpose, won for himself a good name 
and the confidence and respect of his fellows. 

As a volunteer soldier he participated in some 
of the most important battles of the late rebellion, 
manifesting his willingness to risk his life in order 
that the liberties of his native land might be per- 
petuated and the( ,iunion of States miore ^firmly 
united. 

As a; legislator, although with us but a few days 
of the session, yet his intelligent conception of the 
solution of a question, the result of his scholarly 
attainments as well as his congenial disposition, 
leads us to conclude that he would have become 
one of the most useful and popular mem'bers of the 
House. 

As a citizen and true friend of the people among 
whom he pa*s^d nearly all his life, the favor in 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 11 

wbieli lie was held by his neighbors furnishes a 
living testimonial to his extraordinary worth. 
His profession being a physician, with tender 
hand and kind regard for the woes of others, he 
applied the healing balm upon the poor as well as 
the rich; through heat and cold he was ever will- 
ing to respond to the call, and upon his mission of 
merc}'^ bent he proved a friend in need, never con- 
sulting his own comfort or convenience when his 
services were required. 

As a kind father and loving husband he merited 
and received in the domestic relations the confi- 
dence and Avarmest affections of his wife and 
children. 

Eesolved, That we tender to the widow, the 
isons aiud daughter of our departed friend our 
heartfelt sympathy and condole with them on ac- 
count of the greaf loss they have sustained, and 
point them to the Great Helper who will give 
strength to the despondent and those who are of 
a heavy heart, as well as courage to endure the 
trials incidental to human life. 

That the Chief Clerk be directed to transmit to 
them a copy of the resolutions, with the action of 
the House thereon, and that as a further tribute 
of respect, at the conclusion of these services, 
this House do adjourn. 

Mr. Long. Mr. Speaker, in presenting this pre- 
amble and resolution, I wish to say that it is a 
fact worthy of mention, although but one mem- 
ber of the committee had met the person to whom 
the words contained therein are dedicated before 
lie came to Harrisburg to take up his duties ais a 



12 Memorial Services. 



member of tlie House of Representatives, and 
many of the members who had become acquainted 
with him were for a time unable to recall the 
happy moments in which they held sweet con- 
verse with him. For it was simply an introduc- 
tion and the usual exchange of compliments. But 
when able to again fix in mind the open counte- 
naiUce, the genial smile and loving words of our 
new companion, the thought expressed by all who 
remembered him was that of sincere sorrow on 
account of the sudden and unexpected demise of 
our dear friend. For he was a man who was 
richly endowed with those qualifications that are 
so much to be desired if the brotherhood of mian 
is to develop on the line laid down by God, the 
Creator, when he fashioned man — the creature of 
his power — in his own image. 

Sometimes when death comes and removes from 
earth one Who is of distinguished character, ais 
relates to his own community, we are inclined to 
overestimate his importance and usefulness and 
extol his good deeds, and with a charity that is 
becoming we bury beneath the clod that rests 
upon the bosom of the dead their imperfections, 
whilst we magnify any virtures they may have 
practiced amongst their fellow men. But in the 
person of P. McCauley Cook, we do not hesitate to 
proclaim, was embodied a type of manhood which, 
by his life, furnished an example worthy of imita» 
tion, as we strive for the attainment of that 
perfection which finally shall be consummated 
when the veil that .separates the temporal 
from the eternal shall be lifted, and we are 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 13 



permitted to become active participants in the 
perfect life which is promiised in the great beyond 
to all who are faithful here below. 

We believe he has gone to receive the reward 
of the just. May we profit by the example so 
richly embellished in the life of one whose time 
upon earth was devoted to good works in humani- 
ty's cause. Death is sad under any aspect, but 
when the grim reaper seeks for its victim a bright 
and shining light we are sometimesi tempted to 
rebel against the power that thus severs all 
earthly ties and blights the buoyant hopes that 
serve as an anchor to meet the trials and ladver- 
sities incident to thlsi temporal existence. But 
the great God who holds our destinies in His 
hands knows best, hence it becomes us as loyal 
subjects of the Great Sovereign of the Universe tO' 
submit to his decrees without a murmur. There- 
fore, let ms look upon this dispensation of Provi- 
dence and learn from the sudden visitation that 
"in the midst of life we are in death," and be pre- 
pared so that when the great summons comes 
to us we shall be ready to cross the dark river 
with that unwavering courage that Avill land us 
safely upon the shore of that eternal world 
where sorrow, sickness and death are unknown 
and where, in unending bliss, our spirits shall 
blend with those who have gone before. I have 
this message for the widow ^and sorrowing mem- 
bers of the family: God's ways are sometimes to 
usj enveloped in mystery, but we have the promise 
that the time will come when the day will break 
and the shadoAvs flee awav, "For now we see 



14 Memorial Services. 



throiigii a glass darkly; then, face to face." 
Hence, when death separates here, our consolation 
is in looking forward to the time when, in the 
resurrection and the new life, we shall join com- 
pany and forever dwell in an endless eternity with 
those who have already passed over on the other 
side. Longfellow has beautifully written of this 
separation in the following suggestive language: 

There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead lamb is there; 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 

But has one vacant chair. 
"^ Let us be patient: These severe afflictions 

Not from the ground arise; 
But oftentimes celestial benedictions 

Assume this dark disguise. 
We see but dimly through the mists and vapors, 
■ Amid these earthly damps, 

; What seems to us but sad funeral tapers 

May be heaven's distant lamps. 
There is no death: What seems so is transition — 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, 

Whose portal we call death. 

Doctor P. McCauley Cook was born in the Little 
Oove, Warren township, Franklin county, Penn- 
sylvania, on May thirtieth, one thousiaiud eight 
hundred and forty-three. At the age of seven he 
was left motherless, and who does not know what 
it is to be bereft of a mother's love? Before he 
attained the age of twenty-one he enlisted in com- 
pany C, One Hundred and Tv^^enty^sixth regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteens, and iserved las corporal 
until his regiment was discharged, participating 
in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 15 

Oliancell'orsville, ais well as the numerous skir- 
miislieis in which his regiment took part. His 
chosen profession being that of a phyisiician, in 
the attainment of knowledge while developing on 
this line, he attended the colleges at Mercersburg 
and Franklin and Marshall. He graduated at the 
Pennsylvania Medical University about one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty-eight and was emi- 
nently successful as a physician. He was ap- 
pointed a pension examiner, which poisition he re- 
signed when he became a member of the Legisla- 
ture. He was married to Miss Sallie M. Saylor, 
who, with their sons, Claude land Charles, and 
daughter. Miss Katie, survive him. He died at hi^ 
home in Fu.lton county, near Webster Mills, Ayr 
township, on Sunday night, January thirty-first, 
one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, af- 
ter a short illness of pleuropneumonia, aged 
fifty-three years eight months and one day. 

"After life's fitful dream." 

He sleeps beneath the sod, close by the place of 
his nativity, among the hills w*here he loved to 
roam and where his ispirit often mingled with the 
storm and tempest, as he rode upon his midnight 
errand when ministering to the wants of the sick 
and afflicted, there to rest until that morning 
when the Son of Man shall come in all his glory 
to judge the quick and the dead. 

Mr. Carson. Mr. Speaker, I would pay a brief 
but sincere tribute of respect to my deceased 
friend, to honor whose memory we are now as- 
sembled. 



16 Memorial Services. 



It was mj privilege to know Dr. Cook — to know 
him intimately and for many yeans. 

Hence, when I bear testimony to his estimable 
character, to his worthiness in all the relations he 
sustained in life, that testimony is based not on 
tradition, but on knowledge gained by personal 
friendly intercourse during a long period of his 
life. 

Peter McGauley Cook, a native of Franklin 
county, Pennsylvania, was born nearly fifty-four 
yearis ago. At an early age, when la little boy, he 
was welcomed into the home at Mercensburg of 
his piaternal uncle, whose name he bore. By that 
uncle and his most estimable wife, both of whom 
I knew well, he was tenderly cared for and edu- 
cated. It was in Mercersburg that he pursued 
those studies which prepared him for entering 
Franklin and Marshall College. 

Before completing his collegiate course he re- 
turned to Mercersburg and commenced the study 
of medicine. That pursuit was interrupted by 
enlistment in the army. Upon the termination 
of his military service he resumed and continued 
the study of his profession until the University of 
Pennsylvania conferred on him the honorary de- 
gree of doctor of medicine. 

I knew Dr. Cook when a bright and spirited 
boy, when an earnest student, when a brave sol- 
dier, when a successful practicing physician, and 
can testify to his genial, generous temperament at 
all times and under all conditions; can testify that 
his life was true, that his aims were high, that his 
purposes were noble, that his character was with- 
out a stain. 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 17 

In tlie domain of his chosen profession Dr. Cook 
achieved honor and distinction. As an active and 
influential member of the Franklin County Medi- 
cal (Society he was highly esteemed by his asso- 
ciates of that society for his quicknesi,5 of per- 
ception, for his mental penetration, for his faculty 
of nice discrimination. 

If in the line of that profession his lot had been 
cast on a broader and more conspicuous plane of 
effort, his mental endowment, his industry, his in- 
tense interest in, his love of and devotion to, the 
science of medicine and surgery would have made 
him more Avidely known as worthy of place in the 
advanced rank of the devotees of that vocation. 

For more than a quarter of a century Dr. 
Cook served professionally the community in 
which he lived with slvill and fidelitj^ that won for 
him the ever increasing confidence, respect and 
love of those to whom he ministered ; and in that 
service, yielding to the promptings of nature, he 
discriminated not between the rich and the poor, 
serving both with equal promptness and fidelity, 
the one class without thought or hope of pecuni- 
ary reward. And, perhaps, nowhere (save in his 
stricken home) will Dr. Cook be more sincerely 
lamented than in those cabins that dot the moun- 
tain sides of the beautiful Great Cove valley, for, 
with his gratuitous professional ministrations to 
the poor and needy dwellers in those cabins, he 
scattered among them with profusion the flowers 
of sympathy and kindness. 

Dr. Cook had but crossed the threshold of a 
public career when insidious, relentless disease 



18 Memorial Services. 

asserted its power, bafded medical skill, laid low 
its victim, causing a pang of sorrow to run 
through many hearts. Had he remained with us 
we may be assured that these qualifications — 
natural and acquired, by the diligent us© of 
which he commanded success in all the efforts of 
his life, wiould have made him a useful public ser- 
vant and crowned his public career with honorable 
distinction. But the great Disposer of events has 
closed his way to that eminence, and we must 
yield to his sovereign will, comforted by the 
thought and belief that He has transplanted him 
in that bright and beautiful region where there is 
no drouth to wither, no frost to blight, no storm 
to bruise, there to enjoy forever that rest he so 
much craved. 

Mr. Dixon. Mr. Speaker, we are asisembled 
to-night to memorialize the name of our late com- 
rade, brother, associate, friend, Dr. P. McCauley 
Cook. On this occasion we are to search the cor- 
ridors of memory for recollections of him who once 
sat with us in the legislative halls of the State, 
and solemnly and devoutly pay a tribute of re- 
spect and place a wreath of laurel upon his brow. 

My acquaintance with him whom we specially 
revere to-night was that of a few weeks only, but 
in that brief time I came to know him quite well, 
indeed, and learned to love and admire him almost 
as a brother. 

Dr. Cook made acquaintances and friendships 
rapidly, and I doubt if there were many members 
of the House of Eepresentatives who did not learn 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 19 

more or less of him during the few brief weeks of 
his sojourn among us. 

To me he seemed of pleasing and expressive 
countenance, gentle and sympathetic nature, 
cheerful and animated in all that he said or did. 
Such traits and attributes certainly could not fail 
to endear him to all and to win the approbation, 
confidence and esteem of his associates. 

When the announcement was made of his sud- 
den death all of us, although we had known him 
but briefly, with one accord exclaimed: "We have 
lost a valued companion, a wise counsellor, an 
intimate and dear friend." 

His legislative career was very short, and I am 
safe in saying that his constituents as well as his 
fellow-members had an abiding faith in his ability 
and integrity. We all know that he represented 
his constituents in a straightforward, frank, able 
and conscientious manner, and that he would have 
continued to reflect credit and honor upon his 
coinstituents, upon this House of Representatives 
and upon himself, had the thread of his life been 
lengthened. 

Dr. Cook was a Pennsylvanian by birth. In 
this great Commonwealth he was born, here he 
lived to be fifty-three years of age and here on his 
native soil rest his ashes. He loved to talk of his 
native State, her great wealth, her mighty re- 
sources, her rocks and rills, her rugged mountain 
peaks, her smiling valleys, her ever-flowing rivers. 
Above all he loved to talk of Pennsylvania's great 
men, her eminent statesmen, her profound schol- 
■ars, her professional men, especially those in the 



20 Memorial Services. 



profession to wliicli he belonged. He loved liis 
native State and loved her v^^elfare, and in his 
death Pennsylvania certainly mourns the loss of 
a generous, patriotic, noble son. 

Dr. Cook was a soldier. He was of just such 
material as soldiers are made of. At the age of 
twenty he heard the beat of the war drum and 
the call to arms, and he enlisted in Company C, 
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth regiment Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers. He loved the Union as he 
loved his own State, and when men in mad, mis- 
taken frenzy sought to disrupt this fair fabric of 
states, he, patriot that he was, shouldered his mus- 
ket and marched to the very front, where the fight 
was thickest and death surest. 

At Ohancellorsville and Fredericksburg he 
struck as brave men strike, long and well, for 
home and native land. 

All honor to P. McCauley Cook, the soldier and 
the patriot. All honor to all the brave men who in- 
spired with patriotic impulses, went forth at their 
country's call from the hills and valleys of old 
Pennsylvania. 

Though years have elapsed since the close of 
that fearful struggle in the sixties, we shall never 
cease to revere their memory. One by one these 
"boys in blue" are answering to the last roll call, 
and one by one are they mustered out. Yet w^e 
who survive, and generations yet to come, will 
keep their memory green. 

"When the war-drums ceased their beating- 
And the battle flass were furled." 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 21 



Dr. Cook returned again to private life. He 
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania 
and took up the practice of medicine. In this pur- 
suit he took high rank, and became at once emi- 
nently useful, endearing himself to all. In the 
midst of his usefulness he was suddenly cut dov^m 
by the ruthlessi hand of 'deiith. But ,what is 
death? This world is only the vestibule to the 
great life beyond. 

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
Was not spoken of the soul." 

The great army will still move on, though he by 
the wayside hais fallen, weary of tlie march of life. 

We, his comrades, footsore and weary, will not 
have long to wait. The sun of our life is sinking 
toward the wiestern sky, the shadows o'er the 
eiarth are lengthening, and the night, the long, 
dark night, for us is coming on. 

Let us, by the death of our colleague, be admon- 
ished to 

"So live that when the summons comes 

To join the innumerable caravan which leads 

To that mysterious realm where each 

Shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death, 

Thou g'o not like the quarry slave. 

At night, scourg-ed to his dungeon. 

But sustained and soothed by an 

Unfaltering- trust, approach thy 

Grave like one who wraps the 

Drapery of. his couch about him 

And lies down to pleasant dreams." 

Mr. W. H. Miller. ' Mr. Speaker, this is wholly 
an unexpected speech by me. I had not antici- 
pated saying la word on this occasion, but, Mr. 



22 Mefnortal Services. 



Speaker, it always gives me pleasure to speak well 
of 11] J friends, dead or living, and never evil of my 
enemies. 

In eulogy of our deeeaised comrade and fellow 
member, P. MicOauley Cook, of Fulton county, per- 
mit me to say that my personal acquaintance with 
the deceased was somewhat limited. I very well 
remember my first meeting witTi Comrade Oook, 
the first few days of this session, in the old State 
Capitol on the HiH. Why I wa;s so drawn to him 
I often wondered, yet, when I come to study the 
characteristics of our deceased friend, I cease to 
wonder. A^iewing his genial, manly disposition 
we see him and know him as one of God's true, 
noble men, moved by love and fidelity. 

It was these noble attributes of the farmer's 
son of Franklin county that prompted his every 
aiction in his; early boyhood of induistry, 
integrity and fidelity, in following every oc- 
cupation and discharging every trust that 
brought with them for the young man a preemi- 
nence in his community among his associates, and 
early in life gained for him an enviable reputa- 
tion. Follow him through the different depart- 
ments of learning and education — again this same 
spirit of love for his neighbors and fellow men 
prompted him to thoroughly prepare liimself for 
the medical profession — to enlist on his mission of 
love. But alas! there comes the crash of armis, tlie 
peal of thunder as it were, from far off Fort Sum- 
ter. His patriotic spirit, devoted as it was to his 
friends and neighbors, was no less devoted to his 
country's welfare. Doctor Cook dons the blue, 
shoulders the musket, marches to the front with 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 23 

the spirit of a young patriot, willing to en- 
dure all the privation incident to army life — in 
camp — on the bivouac — ^on the weary march — on 
the field of conflict and carnage — amid the din 
and roar of cannon, the bursting of shells — the 
zips of the minnie-ball, the shrieks and groans of 
the wounded and dying. The call to close up the 
A^acant ranks never daunted the courage of this 
noble, valiant young Pennsylvania soldier boy; the 
spirit of love for his colors — the emblem of his 
country — the stars and stripes, was his only 
thought. He followed the colors with that sol- 
dierly spirit until Anally his ambition isi gratified 
on the field of Appomatox. Proudly our comrade 
and late fellow member turns his weary, sore and 
blistered feet, sicar-worn face and with blood- 
istained garments, homeward, there to !be 'wel- 
comed by his friends and neighbors and grace- 
fully receiive the encomiums of a hero and patriot. 

He takes up his profession with the isame spirit 
of true devotion that actuated his motives during 
his former life. He now locates in Fulton, where 
he follows his profession for more than a quarter 
of a century. As an langel of mercy he applies the 
healing balm, and the name of Doctor Oook be- 
comes a household word in his community. 

ISTo wonder then, that when his personal friends 
— rich and poor, high and low, and of all condi- 
tions — became aware of the serious sickness of 
their honored and esteemed friend tthere was 
general solicitude for his recover^^ and welfare. 
But suddenl}^ there came a mioment when all vol- 
untary medical iskill, and all that kind friends 



24 Memorial Services. 



and loving hands and hearts could do, was power- 
less. The grim Eea^Der, Death, had reaped the 
Goal, as it were, and Doctor P. McGauley Cook 
was dead. A cloud of sorrow encompassed, not 
only the home of our dear friend and fellow-mem- 
ber — as well lais the homes of his fellow-menubers 
— but througihout the whole length and breadth 
of his countj'^, regardless of former party affilia- 
tions, a general sorrow prevails, and everybody 
feels as though he has loist a true friend. 

On the day of the final obsequies all business 
wais laid aside and all the people were a:nxious 
to pay their last respects to the earthly remains 
of their former neighbor and comrade and most 
honored citizen, as well as to his isorrowing family. 

Slowly all that remained mortal of husband, 
father, kind neighbor, eminent physician, loyial 
statesman, brave soldier and comrade, wasi fol- 
lowed to its final resting place amid sorrow and 
grief. 

A's the open grave received its new treasure we 
said: Is this the goal of Fate? Echo answers, 
No! 

The goal of Fate is not the tomb — 

Hope's pinions soar beyond; 
And with the Eternal chains of love 

Shall soul to soul respond! 

Mr. Chidsej^ Mr. Speaker, the first of Febru- 
ary, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, 
is remembered by all of us because that night 
witnessed the last evening session of this Legisla- 
ture on Oapitol hill. It was a scene of earnest, in« 
tense, ambitious activity — a j)icture of life. 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 25 

The next day the flames ate out the very vitals of 
that Legislative hall and night saw the ruins, a 
picture of death. Our late fellow-representative, 
P. MeOauley Cook, came from Fulton county a 
picture of life. When I last met him it seemed 
as if every fibre throbbed with health. A short 
time passes, foul diseaise burns out the life of a 
fellow-member, and, while fire was raging 
through our beautiful chamber, a funeral proces- 
sion was going in the storm among the mountains, 
carrying the body of our colleague to his last rest- 
ing plaice. A vivid picture of death. We live and 
die in a world of change. Mr. Speaker, I was in 
the hall of the House when the lights went out 
and parts of the ceiling fell on that fateful second 
of February. I joined the mad rush ta the rear 
door. Passing Dr. Cook's desk I noticed the 
drapery of mourning and a beautiful floral em- 
blem that the hand of affection had placed there. 
In the excitement I paused a moment thinking of 
my departed friend and inhaling some of the fra- 
grance of those sweet flowers. Sir, we are all 
rushing towards the rear door of life. It is well 
for us to pause awhile and bring flowers; to the 
memory of our dead friend, to inhale in these sol- 
emn moments some of the perfume that comes 
from a full-rounded, well-spent life. You know, 
sir, that there are some men who are born, live, 
vegetate, die. They are 

"Like the snowflake on the river, 
A moment seen, then gone forever." 

Not such a man was Dr. Cook. Yoij remember 
Charles Kingsley in his "Farewell" said, "Do noble 



26 Memorial Services. 



tiiing-s, not dream tiiein all day long and so make 
life deaith, and that vast forever one grand, sweet 
isiong." From mv heart I believe our friend was 
one who did noble things not only all day long, 
but far into the night. I can see him as the faith- 
ful physician at all hours either going eastward by 
the bridle path over the spur of the Tuscarorais or 
climbing to the westward up into the fastnesses 
of the Alleghenies, tireless in devotion to duty. 
On the battle field, at the primaries, at the polls, 
as a citizen, as a representative, as a man 
doing, not dreaming, noble things lall day 
and often all night. I believe that he has 
made his life one grand, sweet song. Sir, his work 
was done. In love his Creator promoted him to 
a higher and better world. 

"And from Heaven of Heavens above, 

God speaketh with bateless breath, 
My ang-el of perfect love. 

Is the Angel men call Death." 
His work is done, He is at rest. 

My friend referred to his cravingi for rest quite 
frequently during our last conversation. He 
mentioned his busy life at home and said he 
wanted the change of living up here. He wanted 
rest. His craving- wa-s isatisfied by hisi Maker, and 
in love he was called to rest. In fancy I see his 
last earthly resting place. It is in a beautiful val- 
ley. There the mountain east and the mountain 
west stand like giant sentinels guarding my com- 
rade's grave, and the scene southward is "Green- 
walled by the hills of Maryland'' and northward 
lies the picturesque valley where the trees, leaf- 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 27 

less now as they shake in the wind, seem to beckon 
to his spirit to come to tlie other side and rest in 
the sweet fields of Eclen. It is a mournful pleasure 
for me — a sad duty to my late colleague here and 
comrade of the larni}^ to bring, from the ishadow 
of the Blue Mountains, just where they gracefully 
bow to let the waters of the Delaware gO' peaice- 
fully to the sea, my tribute of respect, affection 
and regard, and to lay it as I now do upon the 
grave of my departed friend and fellow-legislator, 
Dr. P. McCauley Cook. 

Mr. Dixon in the chair. 

Mr. Lennon. ]Mr. Speaker, when the pulsations 
of life are stilled forever it becomes the duty of 
friendship and of love to commemorate the virtues 
of the lamented dead. In accordance with this 
beautiful custom, the House of Kepresentatives 
is iconvened to-night under special order as a 
mark of respect to the memory of our deceased 
colleague, the late Honorable P. McCauley Cook, 
member from Fulton count^^ 

Sad dispensations come almost daily to remind 
us of the uncertainty of this life, and that the 
grave, that cold and silent tomb, is the final rest- 
ing place of all. 

Assembled here to-night within this sacred edi- 
fice, dedicated to the King of Heaven, we are 
forcibly reminded that w^e know not what a day 
may bring forth, and that "in the midst of life we 
are in death." 

What member of this House at the opening of 
the session was apparently stronger, more healthy, 
more vigorous than our deceased brother? None, 



28 Memorial Services. 

indeed, more likely to have readied the allotted 
three score years and ten. Yet in a few short 
weeks all is changed. 

It was not my pleasure to have been personally 
acquainted with T)r, Cook, until I met him in Har- 
risburg before the itonventng of the Legislature. 
His honest, quiet and unassuming manner im- 
pressed me., and we at once became friends. 

A week later, when, at the request of our distin- 
guished Speaker, Hon. Henry K. Boyer, it was 
my privilege to submit for his consideration the 
name of one of our members for appointment upon 
the Soldiers' Orphan School Commission, I con- 
ferred with my associates and found the senti- 
ment was unanimous in favor of Honoratble P. 
McOauley Cook, and he was accordingly nam^d 
for that position, laiU honor seldom accorded to a 
new member, but, nevertheless, a recognition that 
he deserved and appreciated highly, and had he 
lived would have been a worthy member of that 
distinguished body. 

Greater statesmen may have come upon the 
stage of life tham our deceased associate, men 
whose names may live longer in history, but none 
more honest, none more conscientious, none more 
faithful in the discharge of duty and of labors ais- 
signed to him. 

When the black clouds of civil strife broke upon 
and deluged our country with a nation's blood; 
when the flag, which to-night waves from this 
building gracefully and unchallenged as the em- 
blem of American liberty was in peril, his name- 
was found upon the muster roll, and with his life 



Hon. P. McCauley Cook. 29 

in his hands, he went forth to battle for the 
Union of States and the preservation of our 
American nation. 

His work is done, his labors are ended, and he 
hais entered upon that real life that has no end. 
Let us hope that when our time shall come it may 
be said of us, as can be truly said of him : "Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant." 

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 

Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud; 

A flash of the lig-htning-, a break of the wave, 

Man passes from life to his rest in the grave. 

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade. 

Be scattered around and together be laid. 

And the young and the old, and the low and the high 

Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie. 

Mr. Creasy. Mr. Speaker, I move that the reso- 
lutions as read be adopted by a rising vote. 

Mr. C. J. Ehode, Mr. Speaker, I. second the 
motion. 

The question being, 
AVill the House agree to the resolutions? 
They were unanimously agreed to. 

ADJOURNMENT. 

Mr. Lennon in the chair. 

The Speaker. The business for which this spe- 
cial session has been called having been accom- 
plished, this: House now stands adjourned. 



.xoi^HKT uh CONGRESS 



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